In ‘Outliving Shakespeare,’ defying the final act becomes a beautiful work of art

Co-directed by Inna Sahakyan and Ruben Ghazaryan, ‘Outliving Shakespeare’ stood out as one of the most compelling films at this year’s Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan. After the international acclaim of her animated feature Aurora’s Sunrise, Sahakyan returns to themes of memory and survival, shifting from historical reconstruction to a warm, direct, present-day human scale.

The doc takes us into a rundown Soviet-era care home in Yerevan’s Nork district, where theater director Garnik Seyranyan has gathered residents into an acting troupe called “Tarmani” to rehearse an original production, “Shakespeare’s Sins.” Over several months, the film follows their journey from initial casting and table reads through day-to-day rehearsals, steadily building toward a climactic premiere before an audience (unseen by us).